Ember Island Chronicles
by RarityTheUnicorn
Summary: A series of oneshots taking place on Ember Island. Any time, any character. Usually Zuko and the Dangerous Ladies or the Gaang. Newest: Suki/Toph friendship develops while they watch a swordbending fight.
1. Chapter 1

Zuko honestly didn't know why he ever listened to Azula.

_Don't be silly, Zuzu. This belongs to me._

_Don't be silly, Zuzu. Of course, I care about you._

_Don't be silly, Zuzu. We'll be right back._

Zuko scoffed out loud, earning an irritated look from a mother walking by with her kid. He narrowed his eyes and growled at the kid, who only giggled and kept walking right along on his mother's hand.

Zuko sat back and crossed his arms and flipped his stupid hair out of his stupid eyes. Even with the great material his father had given him to work with, it was hard to be threatening while sitting on the stairs of the Ember Island Spa.

Zuko had been abandoned, deserted, rejected, just so those stupid girls could lay in mud or something equally as pointless. What were they _doing_ in there for that long anyway? And why couldn't he come with them?

Nothing was worse than being the loser who had nothing better to do than wait around a spa like a delinquent. What would people think of him? That he had no will power to stand up to a bunch of girls? That he had no friends? That he was just some pervert hanging around to harass women?

Zuko couldn't keep the angry blush off of his cheeks. Great, now his _entire_ face was red. As if people needed any more reason to stare at him like idiots. He snarled and turned his head. Now, he was just some freak show, his face on display for the entire world, as easy to spot as a bright, red balloon floating against a background of dreary, grey clouds.

The world was an awful place.

Zuko looked at the ground surrounding him. He was irritated to see that he had not broken the puzzle game Azula had given him to mess with while they had their dreadful "girl time" when he had thrown it against the wall. He gave it a kick and watched it fly away into the crowd.

Almost immediately, he regretted it; he had really wanted to figure out how Azula had done it so easily.

Also next to him on the stair sat Ty Lee's half-eaten candy apple that she had asked him to hold for her. He didn't know why he bothered protecting it from the flies and scorpion-bees, the duty was just as annoying as everything else in the world, but every time something swooped down on him he would flail his arms violently and move the apple to his other side.

It was disgusting, the caramel smelling sickly sweet and oozing down the sides, pooling in the craters Ty Lee's teeth had left and around the bottom, wasting away on the plate. Just looking at it gave him a stomach ache.

But Zuko would have eaten a thousand candy apples to get rid of the sight making its way through the crowd, flipping his hair around enough to give himself neck problems, walking around like a jerk who couldn't find a shirt and couldn't find a girlfriend of his own. The idiot from the party.

Before he knew what he was doing, Zuko had wrapped his hand around the stick in Ty Lee's apple, pulled his arm backwards, and flung the apple.

It spun through the air and finally bounced off of the jerk's head with a satisfying clunk, leaving a good amount of gooey caramel in his precious hair.

The noise that left the prince was more an angry huff than a laugh, but, judging by the smirk pulling at his lips, he was in his best mood all day.

The scowl returned when Zuko heard the Ty Lee behind him.

"What a wonderful spa! I had a great time, didn't you guys?"

"What took you so long?" Zuko spun around to face them, stomping up the stairs with his fists balled up at his sides.

"Hello to you too, Zuzu," Azula said, rolling her eyes. "How was your afternoon?"

"Horrible!" he spat back at his sister. How _dare_ she leave him standing around like an idiot then have the nerve to ask him about his day?

"Yeah. Me too," Mai drawled, taking Zuko's hand in her own and turning him around to walk down the stairs. "Spas are boring." Mai looked at Zuko from the corner of her eye; he was practically steaming. "Wanna go make out until you feel better?"

Zuko blushed and knit his brow together, his eyes darting from side to side, like he was trying to figure out how to solve a difficult problem.

"Fine!"

"Whatever."

Mai sighed and wrapped her arm around his waist. Zuko fell easily into the habit and his arm found its way around Mai's shoulders.


	2. Chapter 2

Lo and Li's cottage was far from luxurious. The food was average, the view lacking, and the bathroom solitary. Worst of all was the room Azula was forced to share with her friends and Zuzu. The sheets' fabric was not as fine as that of those in the palace and worked with the sand that clung to them to irritate the princess's legs.

Though, it wasn't as if she was getting much sleep anyway, what with the noises in the room. Azula could probably have tolerated the soft, breathy, and absurdly feminine noises Ty Lee made while she slept, but, honestly, she would become nauseous if she chose to dwell on the too loud whispers and slurping coming from Mai's bed (she was sure Zuko was the one to mope across the room seeking comfort). She needed to get out before she emptied her dinner onto the peasant sheets, which might actually have been an improvement to both.

The rustling stopped when she sat up, but quickly resumed as she made her way to the door. That was one aspect of Mai that amused Azula, her quietly rebellious nature that she had developed to bother her mother. What did Mai care if Azula overheard?

Azula hated Ember Island. The companionship she had felt earlier had disappeared and, in fact, must never have been there at all. She was obviously confused; it had been merely the thrill of triumph that made her chest hum, her stomach warm and fluttering.

She walked along the beach and allowed the waves to roll over her feet, the water crashing and splitting around her ankles, a dry spot encircling each footstep as she applied pressure to the wet sand.

As she made her way up the stairs to the Fire Lord's beach house, something horribly empty and cold tugged at her gut. Ember Island had a nasty way of pulling all her memories and the feelings that accompanied them to the foreground, and, with her family, that could never be a good thing. The entire house reeked of the past, her father sitting on every chair, her cousin hiding in every shadow, and her mother just disappearing around every corner. Going through the house was a pain, but Azula was nothing if not determined, and the annoyance was well worth the nights of sleep she would gain from stripping the sheets and bringing them back to Lo and Li's. And it wasn't as if she really cared, anyway.

She found the master bedroom easily, at the end of the hallway where she and Zuko had their own bedrooms. As she had expected, the sheets were silky and fit for a princess. After ripping them from the bed, Azula decided to raid the closets for good measure; perhaps her mother would be good for something after all.

As the night grew darker and the moon moved across the sky, the Fire Lord's beach house became empty. Somewhere along the shore, the waves erased the petite footsteps left in the grey sand. A pendant shaped like a teardrop, a red stone hanging down from a gold fastening, fell into the ocean. The chain glittered in the moonlight under the water as it made its way to the bottom, where no one could ever find it. It read, _To Ursa, My only love_.


	3. Chapter 3

She feigned innocence when he peeked over his shoulder, giving him a sweet smile and fluttering her eyelashes. He wasn't stupid, though; by the clenching in his gut and the determined spark in her blue eyes, he knew exactly what was going on.

He faced forward again, better to make his escape. He made a sharp turn down a branching hallway and took off in a sprint, slamming the door behind him.

From down the hallway, he could hear the door crash to the floor. He rolled his eyes. It didn't really matter, no one had been here in years, but she didn't need to be so theatrical. She called his name and he picked up his pace, taking another branch towards the courtyard, the last thing he needed was for them to end up at the ocean.

"Out of the way!" he shouted urgently before bursting into the kitchen, met by his friends already quite out of the way, kissing on top of the island. He groaned. "Really, guys?"

As he ran through, he grabbed anything he could, pots and pans, leftovers from breakfast, a few chairs, and threw them in the path behind him.

"Zuko, what's going on?" the girl sitting on his best friend asked, anticipating an attack.

"It's-"

The words died in his mouth as she came in the room, breathing heavily, a maniacal smile across her face.

"Ha! I've caught you! Now, _get over here_, Zuko!"

He stood, frozen by terror, wide, gold eyes darting around for possible escapes.

"You'll _never_ get me!"

She narrowed her eyes and let out a growl, then charged at him, slipping in what had fallen out of an overturned bin of garbage. He took the moment she was distracted to leap across the room, vault himself over the counter, and fly out of the window in a flip.

When he landed in the courtyard, he could hear her swearing through the window. He found himself smirking as he took a defensive stance and watched the entrance where she would emerge.

She did, moments later, but his face fell. She had grabbed her waterskin off the kitchen counter. _Stupid! Stupid!_ How could he have left it there? She grinned at him and popped it open, the water flowing easily out at her command.

"Stay away from me!" he said, sending a warning blast of fire her way.

"What do you think you're doing? There's no way you can beat a Master Waterbender."

"Wanna bet?" he snarled.

"Please, Zuko," she said, rolling her eyes. "It's not like I've never beaten you before."

Her eyes snapped back to him, her grin pulled tight, and she ran at him.

The water grabbed his ankles and pulled him to the ground. Unwilling to give up easily, he sent another blast of fire at her legs, forcing her to jump up onto the bench in the center of the courtyard. Soon enough, she had jumped off, landing on top of him while he tried to get himself up.

He struggled and fought while she settled herself on top of his waist, forcing him to look up at her. _Stupid firebending_; how was he supposed to get out of this without hurting her?

"Just sit still," she said irritatedly, pulling out the scissors she had tucked into her belt.

"No! I won't!" he grunted, trying to turn over. "You can't make me!"

She groaned, becoming impatient. "What's your _problem_?"

"You are _sitting on top of me_!"

"It will just take a second!"

"Get off of me!"

"Just let me-"

"No!"

"I can't see your face!"

"I like it that way!"

"I don't believe you!"

"I _do_!"

"Sit still or you'll mess it up!"

"I don't care! Leave me alone!"

From the stairs, Sokka and Suki watched, laughing, as Katara tried to hold both of Zuko's wrists in one hand and cut his hair with the other.


	4. Chapter 4

Zuko preferred to stay under the parasol that their mother had left them under while she and their father took a walk down the beach. Zuko's opinion didn't matter, though, so he was walking down the beach behind his little sister, looking over his shoulder longingly at the sheltered spot where he could stay out of the way.

"Well, Zuzu?" she said, turning around and walking backwards to look at him expectantly.

"Uh, sorry, Azula. What did you say?"

"Ugh," she turned away from him again, craning her neck to peer down the beach. "You never listen to anybody, dum-dum."

"Sorry," he mumbled, scrunching up his face and looking at the ground.

"Excuse me!" Azula called out, taking Zuko by the wrist and dragging him towards a family near the water. "Hello! My brother and I are staying here this week and we were just wondering if you wanted to come play with us."

The little girl looked up at her parents pleadingly. "Please, oh, please, can I go?"

The mother looked Zuko and Azula once over and, satisfied that she had seen only a polite young girl and her shy older brother, gave the girl permission to play. Once out of the adults' earshot, Azula led introductions.

"My name is Azula, I'm six, and this is my brother Zuzu, he's eight."

"Hey!" Zuko shouted out, causing the girl to jump back a little. "Oh, sorry. It's just, um, my name is Zuko -not Zuzu."

"Oh, okay. I'm Min. I'm six, too." She smiled at them both. Azula smiled back while Zuko blushed and moved to walk behind them.

"We have all sorts of neat toys back where we're sitting: shovels and buckets and everything," Azula said in her most enticing voice.

"That's so cool! What do you think we should do?"

"Well..." Azula said, drawing out the word to be sure she had Min's attention. She continued in a near whisper, as if she were letting them in on a big secret. "Yesterday, I got the servants to play with me and they made this super hole in the sand. We could go and see if it's still there."

"You have servants?" Min gasped in adoration.

"Of course, I do!" Azula laughed. "I'm the princess."

"Really?"

Azula's smile grew. "_Really_. Fire Lord Azulon is our grandfather; you can ask Zuzu if you don't believe me."

The little girl began rambling and Azula gave Zuko a sly smile over her shoulder.

He wanted to scream at Min, scare her away. If he was any good at lying, he would have. He would have yelled and even pretended to be mean, if it meant she would run away. He was okay with not having any friends, if it meant Azula wouldn't have any either.

They arrived at Azula's hole in the sand, far enough away from the water that it was still in tact. This far up the beach, there weren't even any families around. Azula and Min knelt next to it. Azula could almost touch the bottom with her fingertips, her arm straight down in the hole. Zuko looked into it, attempting to appear unimpressed. _He_ could probably touch the bottom -_without_ leaning his body flat against the sand.

"Wow. You were right. It is super!"

Azula laughed. "Of course, I'm right. Why would I lie about it?"

Zuko could think of a few reasons.

"Do you know what we could do?" Azula said in her secret-voice.

"What?" Min whispered back, leaning in towards Azula, her eyes wide.

"You could sit in it and we could bury your legs and then use the sand to make you...a dragon or a mermaid or a sealguana -anything!"

Min chewed on her lower lip as she looked into the hole, then nodded. "Okay, but just my legs."

"Of course!"

As she lowered herself into the hole, Azula smiled at Zuko, one of her nicer smiles, the kind that made him feel like he was in the inside of her joke, not the subject. He was her partner, her friend. They were going to work together, brother and sister.

She held his eyes for a moment before pointedly looking down to her fingers, slowly curling and uncurling, pushing sand into the hole. He nodded and moved to the opposite side of her.

With one swift motion, Azula had grabbed Min by the shoulders and laid her down in the hole, then begun pushing sand on top of her before she could react. Zuko quickly joined her, pushing sand from the edge over her legs, his heart filled with joy from his sister treating him as an equal.

The next time he looked up, he could see that Min had begun crying, Azula piling the sand down over her chest and neck and holding down her arms. Zuko's stomach clenched and he could hear his mother saying his name the way she did when he had done something bad. _Zuko! Why would you do that?_

"Stop!" he shouted, scrambling across the sand to scrape it off of Min.

Azula ignored him and kept pushing the sand, laughing.

Zuko clawed into the sand desperately, until he had gotten hold of one of Min's hands and pulled her up. She quickly pulled her arm out of his grasp and looked back and forth between them, sand sticking to the wet streaks down her cheeks.

"Why did you do that?" she said quietly, absolutely puzzled.

Azula shrugged. "I thought it was funny."

"But," she hiccuped and sniffled, blinking quickly. "But you lied to me."

"I know that."

She gave them each one more horrified, teary look before running down the beach.

Azula's laugh only served to make Zuko feel worse; how could he have been so stupid? He knew how much it hurt when Azula turned on you.


	5. Chapter 5

At first, Suki wasn't quite sure what was different about Toph.

When they had met, back at Full Moon Bay, Toph had been distant. Surprisingly, she had never been mean, never used the sarcasm she had shown over the past few weeks. In fact, she had seemed to prefer pretending that Suki wasn't there at all. Suki tried to remember if Toph had even once addressed her. Well, there was that time she had kissed her, but that hadn't really counted.

Now, Toph spoke to her. She joked and punched and challenged. And Suki could handle that. She could even punch back.

Finally, she figured it out when she saw Toph lying on the edge of the courtyard in the shadows, knees bent, feet and palms flat against the ground. Out in the sunlight, Sokka and Zuko were running around with their swords out and their shirts off, having a 'manly man swordbending contest'.

Suki watched Toph spread out her fingers and grin to herself. She nearly laughed out loud when it hit her.

She took a running start and jumped over the stairs, causing Toph to jump a little when she landed next to her.

"Hey, Tiny. How's it going?"

Suki smirked as Toph greeted her with a curt "Fine!" and seemed to will herself closer to the ground. Suki put on a straight face as she sat down and started to tap her foot against the stones; Toph's face scrunched up in annoyance.

"So, am I the only one who's glad you don't have the hots for Sokka anymore?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Toph turned her head away from Suki, hiding the blush spreading across her cheeks.

"It's okay," Suki said softly, holding her foot still. "I won't tell anyone." She lied down on her side, head propped up with an arm. She didn't want to mess up her view. "Let me guess; sometime in the Western Air Temple, Sokka just kind of lost his appeal. You still loved him, but he just didn't have that..._spark_ anymore."

Toph let the words hang between them, refusing to confirm or deny anything.

"I can't blame you. Zuko's a hottie." Suki grinned as Toph swore.

"Screw you, you little floozy!"

"Relax, I'm being appreciative, not moving in on your man."

"Yeah, tell that to me three months ago," Toph scoffed.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, Suki glad that she had finally figured out what was going on with the little earthbender and herself. Katara was nice and all, but Suki had a feeling that Toph would benefit from a chick who could loosen up a little bit, someone who would punch her back. The kid needed a cool older sister type, and Sokka just wouldn't cut it.

"Do you know what would make this better?" Suki said, grinning to herself and not moving her eyes from Sokka and Zuko.

"What?"

"Mud."

Toph swore again, quietly and to herself, as if an epiphany had finally reached her. "You are _so_ right."

Suki laughed. "I know."

* * *

><p>"You know, I'm gonna beat you one of these- what's the matter with <em>you<em>, man?" Sokka said looking up from Space Sword to see his best buddy scowling, wiping off his body and blushing face before jamming his clothes back on.

"Those girls," Zuko muttered, absolutely determined to figure out his gold belt/sash thingy. "It's like they think we can't see them and I can't even do anything to stop Toph."

Sokka laughed, tossing an arm around Zuko's shoulders. "You're crazy. There's nothing wrong with a little lovin' from the ladies." Sokka grinned like the stud he was and sent a thankful wink and finger point to his favourite fangirl.

Zuko shoved him off, his face only deepening in color. "I feel so _violated_; it's not like we're slabs of meat."

Sokka sighed dreamily, "If only, Zuko. If only..."


End file.
